I forgot to mention this yesterday and my colleague Bernie Miklasz slipped it into his column this morning, but Soccer America has rated SLU’s recruiting class 10th in the nation. They hadn’t been ranked in the top 10 in the ratings off early signees.

Writes Paul Kennedy:

10. SAINT LOUIS. The Billikens signed High School All-Americans
Nick Maglasang and Alex Sweetin from St. Louis and Kansas City, respectively, then fanned out to land Californians Benny Estes, Brian Green and Jordan Wolff. Local product Mike Roach transferred after spending the previous two years at Indiana.

 xxxxx

Sorta local Stan Kroenke — he’s part owner of the Rams among other things — now owns more of Arsenal than anybody else. He’s upped his stake to 28.3 percent. Does this matter for St. Louis and soccer? Not as far as I can tell. Kroenke already owns the Colorado Rapids.

xxxx

Who else wants an MLS team? Edmonton? Daryl Katz, who owns the Edmonton Oilers and is a, to quote the Edmonton Journal, a pharmaceutical billionaire, is interested, but he’s in no rush. He doesn’t think it will happen until, oh, 2015.

Writes the Journal:

MLS, headquartered in New York, recently announced expansion franchises in Vancouver and Portland will swell its numbers to 18 teams by 2011. Seven cities applied, driving the previous franchise fee of $30 million US to $35 million. The five cities that lost out - Montreal, Ottawa, St. Louis, Miami and Atlanta - won’t necessarily be at the head of the next class.

 ”Our timetable has not been finalized as far as future expansion,” said MLS director of communications Will Kuhns. “The commissioner (Don Garber) has said we will expand at some point to 20 teams. He said that could happen as soon as 2012. It has been taken as a definite. It may not be the case. Because of that, we’re still focusing on the current round of expansion.”

 By the way, you’ll note the above story refers to a $35 million expansion fee. The league wanted $40 million and says it got $40 million, but there are ample rumors that Vancouver either paid less or is paying it over time.